Phia, the shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, faces fresh scrutiny after Bloomberg reported that the pair knew for months that the company was "cookie stuffing" — improperly claiming credit and commission for affiliate purchases it had not actually generated. This contradicts an earlier company statement, made when Bloomberg first exposed the practice, that Phia only learned of the issue once journalists raised it, raising further questions about the startup's transparency and business practices.

New reporting, based on leaked Slack messages and sources close to the matter, indicates Gates and Kianni were aware of the practice as far back as December and discussed it with executives and engineers. Bloomberg found cookie stuffing accounted for a significant share of Phia's sales, with revenue dropping sharply once it was halted, and named Nike and Nordstrom among the affected retailers; what a spokesperson had called a "bug" in July is now described as a deliberately built, switchable feature. Phia disputed some of Bloomberg's claims but said it would "learn from this," and did not respond to TechCrunch. The company has also recently faced reports of heavy staff losses, brands unaware they were listed on the app, and earlier controversy over covert data collection.